


whispers and rumors

by perhapssoon



Series: mishaps and homework au [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: A bit more mature than the previous one, F/M, Idk what I’m doing, M/M, More tags to be added, People go missing, car crashes, tracking cell phones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-06 22:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14067003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: Philip is determined to track his friend down, no matter the cost.OrSome things may not end up as they seem and sophomore year just got a lot harder.





	1. in which nathaniel goes missing

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s the sequel! It may get a bit dark, so trigger warnings will be posted in the notes before each chapter.

"Nathaniel’s missing!” Those were the first words Theo said to her friends when winter break ended. "He hasn't been answering his phone; I can't get ahold of him!"  


The words took a while to sink in for everyone to process it.  Eacker was the first to speak.  


"He's missing?"

Theo looked miserable.  "The last time I heard from him was right before break.  He sounded like he was going to hurl; he sounded terrible."

"So, he's just sick?" Georges asked, although everyone at the table knew he was just asking on the small shred of hope that he had.  


Theo shook her head.  "Unless he died -- which we would've known if he did -- it doesn't take that long to get over a cold."  


"So he's actually missing?"  


Theo shrugged.  "I can try to track his phone after-school, but no promises."  


When Philip went to his dad for help, Alexander was rather dismissive.  "What are you talking about? I saw him this morning."  


"You did?"  


"He was in fourth period, like always. Didn't you notice or were you too involved with your boyfriend?"  


Philip had to admit: he was rather distracted during fourth period now, considering that he could stare at Eacker openly, but the class, now that he thought of it, had been devoid of Nathaniel and his little quirks and twitches.  


"You really didn't notice that he was missing?"  


Alexander looked slightly concerned as he studied his son's face.  "Are you feeling alright?"  


"I'm fine," Philip replied abruptly, and left the room, leaving Alexander to stare after the sophomore, stunned.  


"My dad thinks Nathaniel was in class today," Philip informed his friends after-school, when they were all gathered around Theo's computer as she tried to track their missing friend's phone.  "He didn't even notice that he was missing."  


"Was that because he was texting Mr. Jefferson all day?" Frances asked, giving him a knowing wink.  


Philip snorted.  "Probably."  


Ever since Philip and his friends put Alexander and Mr. Jefferson on a blind date together, the two teachers spent every minute by each other's sides.  It was kinda cute, but also distracting whenever Philip was trying to do homework and ignore the sounds coming from downstairs.  


Theo slammed her computer shut in frustration.  "Nathaniel's phone is offline," she sighed.  "I can't get ahold of it."  


"Is it offline or dead?" Eacker asked, reaching for her laptop, which she reluctantly allowed him to take and look at the screen. "Nathaniel never leaves his phone without battery, and he rarely turns it off, so something is going on."  


"Obviously, otherwise he would be at school," Richard snapped.  "Try searching for the signal. If it is dead, it wouldn't give any sign where it is, but if it is turned off, it should be easy to find."  


Eacker tapped a few keys before he suddenly paused and looked closer.  Everyone watched with with bated breath.  "Got it." he said suddenly.  "His phone's thirty miles from here in some kind of open field.  I don't even want to consider how it got there."  


"Are we going to check it out?" Georges asked, even as he shoved his binders back into his backpack, looking eager.   


Eacker shrugged. "I'm going, that's for sure.  Anyone else?"  


Georges grinned.  "I'm in.  My mom won't miss me if I'm gone on a secret mission."  


Philip rolled his eyes at his friends before saying, "I'll go too.  Nate helped me with the whole Jamilton operation.  We gotta bring him back."  


"I'll stay here." Theo spoke up.  "You need a techie, and someone to cover for you."  


"I'll stay here as well," Richard agreed.  "Just in case."  


"Hell yeah, I'm going!" Frances cheered.  "We got a friend to save!"  


Philip laughed at her enthusiasm and then turned to the only person who hadn't spoken since Nathaniel disappeared.  "Van Ness, you coming?"  


The former bully startled.  "What?"  


"We're going to find Nate, are you coming?"  


Van Ness studied Philip for a moment, before his eyes roved over the rest of the friend group.  He stood and brushed off his jacket, eyes glinting. "I'll come."  


"Perfect!" Frances jumped to her feet. "When are we gonna get started?"  


Eacker laughed and dangled his car keys in front of her.  "Have you learned how to drive yet?"  


Frances pouted.  "Yes.  But I just got my permit."  


"Looks like I am driving," Eacker said, pocketing the keys.  "Unless, Van Ness, you want to drive?"  


The fedora-wearing junior shook his head.  "I'll do it if you don't want to.  Make sure there aren't any accidents, that sort of thing."  


"You drive into accidents?" Theo asked, standing up.  


"He doesn't do it on purpose," Eacker answered, turning to leave.  "If anyone has crashed a car more, it's Nate.  He got us stuck in traffic once, and somehow we ended up with the hood smashed into the wall separating the freeway lanes."  


"Jesus." Philip turned to stare at his dad's classroom. "You think we can tell anyone where we are going?"  


Eacker shook his head.  "I don't know if any of you want adults involved in this.  Knowing Nate, he'll just get even more nervous if we--"  


"Hold up," Theo interrupted.  "You aren't saying..?"  


"I'm not saying anything," Eacker answered.  "If and only if he actually is anywhere near his phone, we need to get there first. Not the adults.  Trust me on this.  Please."  


Theo only scrutinized him for a second, which was a new record in Philip's opinion.  "Fine."  


Eacker smiled.  "Thanks, Theo."  


He turned to the school gates and looked back over his shoulder, grinning at the small group of highschoolers gathered behind him. "Who's ready to go?"


	2. in which there is a hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Philip and the others track the signal to a plot of land in the middle of nowhere. What happens next surprised them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeaah, I have no idea where this is going

"Where do you think they are going?" Alexander asked, watching his son and some of his friends run out to the parking lot.

Mr. Jefferson came up besides him and squinted at the figures of the high-schoolers getting into what he assumed was one of their cars. "Beats me. Aren't you going to do something about it?"

Alexander shook his head, turning away from the window. "Philip is smart enough to text me if something happens. I won't press him. It looked urgent."

“You seem very understanding," Mr. Jefferson replied, still staring after the car. "Would Eliza do that as well?"

Alexander snorted. "No, of course not. Philip would probably be home-schooled if Eliza got her way. And he would be better at French than he is now. Solid B+, I believe, because Eliza is too soft on him."

Mr. Jefferson nodded slowly, turning away from window at last. "I'm worried for them."

Alexander sighed, shoulder slumping. "So am I. But I trust that they are leaving for a good reason and I learned from experience about awkward questions and answers that it would be best to let them go."

“Does it have something to do with Nathaniel being gone?"

“What?" Alexander started. "Why does everyone keep saying-- wait, he was gone wasn't he?"

Mr. Jefferson gave him an incredulous glance. "Seriously? Were you that distracted today to not notice?"

“Shit!" Alexander raked a hand through his hair as he raced to his laptop. "I marked him absent, but how the hell did I not notice?"

“Maybe he's on vacation still?" Mr. Jefferson asked hopefully, hovering over his boyfriend's shoulder. 

Alexander shook his head, and closed the lid of his computer. "Nathaniel has no legal family. He's been living on the streets."

“And still comes up with enough money to go to school here?"

Alexander shrugged. "His parents were rich. That much I know."

“Do you think we should help the kids?" Mr. Jefferson asked, looking a bit confused. 

"No. We don't need to. Pip will figure it out. He's fine." Alexander replied confidently.

“You sure?” Mr. Jefferson glances out of the window again. “They might mess with the wrong people. Van Ness has got a pretty strong temper; they all do. If they get into trouble, they could end up much worse than we might realize.

Alexander shook his head. “I still think we should wait. Trust me, I’m holding back as much as you are but I want to see how they solve this first.”

—-

Eacker wrenched the steering wheel to the left and everyone inside the car was thrown sideways and on top of each other. 

“Can you not drive so violently?” Frances asked, as she disentangled herself from Philip’s seatbelt. “I’m going to hurl.”

Eacker just grunted in response; he was too concentrated on the road to try to reply. 

“How much farther?” he asked the cell phone sitting in the dock on the dashboard. 

Theo’s voice rang through it. “Ten miles and then the first right.”

“Thanks.” Eacker looked up and his eyes widened. “Hold on everyone, it’s a long stretch.”

“Stay within the speed limit, Eacker!” Theo reminded him, but the junior had already pressed the accelerator. 

The car shot forward, and everyone screamed. 

Philip was jerked backwards against his seat, Frances’ nails digging into his skin. Georges was hanging onto the grab handle with all his might. Van Ness, who was in the passenger seat, was bracing himself against the door and the dashboard. Only Eacker seemed unaffected, as he was leaning forward, eyes narrowed as he navigated the last few miles and pulled the car onto the shoulder. 

Philip groaned as he exited the car, massaging the place where his seatbelt cut into his shoulder. Frances very nearly toppled out, looking a bit shaken, with Georges following, looking dizzy.

“How close are we?” Eacker asked Theo. 

“The signal is coming from the middle of the field,” Theo responded. “It’s fainter now.”

“Could he be underground?”

“Maybe.” There was a pause before the phone switched to Richard.

“He hasn’t moved; the signal is just really faint. Theo sent you the coordinates a while ago.”

Eacker nodded as he swiped into the map. “It’s this way,” he told the others and set off, his friends groaning and struggling behind him. 

As it turned out, Nathaniel was nowhere in sight when they reached the middle of the area. 

“Are you sure this is the spot?” Van Ness asked. 

“I’m certain,” Theo’s voice floated through the phone’s speaker. “You’re literally standing on top of the signal.”

“So he’s underground?” Frances asked, kneeling on the spot and searching around. “How would that even be possible?”

“Beats me,” Theo responsed. There was a rustling sound and then she added. “There’s another signal on here. Different signature but it’s really strong. Keep an eye out, guys. Something’s up.”

Van Ness suddenly broke into the conversation. “Heads up guys, police incoming.”

Philip turned to look in the direction he was pointing and sure enough, three patrol cars were parked at the edge of the field, lights flashing. 

“They’re a good two hundred meters away,” Eacker said, even as he gripped his phone tightly. “It’ll take them a while to walk over here.”

“Is this private territory?” Georges asked, eyes wide. 

“No, but it would still could as trespassing because it’s the property of the state,” Theo replied. “Hope they don’t drive over their own property because then they would be in trouble as well.”

“Looks like they’re risking it,” Van Ness reported, and Philip watched as the engines roared loud enough to hear them and started coming closer. “How far can they go before it’s illegal?”

“Where you are, you have maybe two meters of illegal area before they catch you from outside,” Theo answered. “It’s sage to say that you could be sent to jail because of how far in you are.

“Gee, thanks Theo,” Philip groaned. “It makes me feel so much better now that I know I’m going to be arrested if the police catch us.”

“They’re now a hundred feet away from you guys,” Richard reported, sounding scared. “You need to get out of there!”

“But where the hell would we go?” Eacker asked, turning to look at the vast landscape. “We can’t outrun a fucking police car!”

“Nathaniel’s phone signal is coming from the ground,” Theo shouted. “If you can somehow figure out a way to get below ground, you’re good!”

“They can still track us down there!” Frances cried, even as she started searching for some kind of hole. 

“It’ll buy you more time!” Theo said, sounding frantic. “Just do it!”

Everyone dropped to the ground and started searching, all aware of the police sirens coming closer and closer. 

Philip ran his hand along the ground, ignoring the bristle patches and dry grass cutting into his skin. He found something cold, hard, and smooth jutting out of the dirt, which nearly ripped his hand into two. “Guys, I think I found something!”

Eacker came running over and together, they managed to clear the dirt and dried mud to reveal a large metal plate secured by two hinges, with a rusty handle carved into the edge. Van Ness took hold of the handle and yanked upward, pulling open the door with a loud creak. The five stood in a circle, staring down into the abyss in front of them. 

“Do we, uh, just go in?” Georges asked, looking nervous. 

The police sirens made the decision for them. Van Ness leaped into the hole, Eacker following a moment later, and after a second thought, the sophomores followed.


	3. in which it is dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo tried to think logically. Van Ness is done with life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I haven’t written in forever (well it feels like forever). Here’s the next chapter! Sorry for the delay.

“Hello?” Theo shook her phone, as if it would help her become connected to her friends again. “Eacker?”

There was no reply.

Richard came up behind her. "What’s wrong?“

"I lost connection with them,” Theo explained, putting her phone down and tapping furiously on her keyboard. "They must have gone underground.“

"No signal?”

“None,” Theo confirmed after a moment, clicking a couple times before sighing. "We lost them completely.“

"Well, hopefully the police won’t capture them either.” Richard took the computer to try connect to Eacker’s phone. "This can’t turn into a legal mess; how are we gonna explain this?“

Theo shook her head, curls flying everywhere. "This wasn’t supposed to go this far. We’re sophomores, for God’s sake! Now we have six high-schoolers missing with us as the only technical witnesses.”

“The only thing we can do is wait,” Richard answered, pushing the computer back towards her. "You can track phone signals; if Eacker is in the same place as Nate, then you should be able to detect it.“

Theo nodded slowly. "I guess so. But how are we going to explain this if we get caught? This is illegal: all this tracking stuff belongs to the government.”

“You cracked their firewall?” Richard asked, looking amazed.

“They didn’t have one, and they shouldn’t be able to detect me, but it’s a large risk to keep the application up this long,” Theo explained, scrolling through the long blocks of code. 

“But we can’t close it until Eacker contacts us again–”

“I know, but we have no choice unless you wanna get us all arrested.”

Richard had no response to that, and Theo sighed. "Look, I’ll keep it up as long as I can but if the system detects me, I’m shutting it down.“

“Fair enough.” Richard turned away. "I gotta tell my mom I’ll be staying after school longer. Be right back.“

As he started to walk away, Theo suddenly called him back. "Richard, wait!”

He was beside her in an instant. "What is it?“

Theo pointed to her phone, which was buzzing. The call ID read unknown.

“What are you waiting for? Pick up!” Richard did it himself, pressing the call button and Van Ness’ voice floated through the phone speaker.

“Burr? Price? You there?”

“We’re here, what’s going on?” Richard asked, bringing the phone close to his face.

Van Ness’ voice sounded faint and slightly strained. "We’re in this underground chamber thing. I’m the only one with reception, but I don’t know where the others are because their phones can’t connect.“

“You guys got separated?” Theo asked, grabbing the phone from Richard’s hands.

“Uh, yeah,” Van Ness sounded a bit confused. “It’s kinda hard seeing down here and my phone’s nearly out of battery already. Wouldn’t be that effective if I— What the hell?”

“What?” Theo nearly dropped her phone from Van Ness’ shout. "What’s going on?“

There was a crackling noise and shuffling sound before Van Ness’ voice became audible. "Shit. Laurens, don’t you dare do that again!”

Frances’ laughter then was heard, loud and long, like her father’s. "Oh man, that was hilarious.“

"Not funny,” Van Ness grumbled, before saying. “I got Burr and Price on the line. You interested?”

“Oh hell yes!” Frances voice suddenly became louder as the phone was transferred to her hands. "Theo, Richard, you there?“

"Yep!” Theo answered, looking relieved that at least one of her close friends was alright. "Do you know where everyone else is?“

"No. I only could find Van Ness because of his phone glowing,” Frances answered with a laugh. “But if everyone, like, turned on their phones at the same time, maybe we could find each other.”

“It drains battery life pretty quickly,” Van Ness put in. "I came down here with at least 75% and now it’s at 10%. There’s something strange going on.“

"Well, save your battery and find the others,” Theo said. "It would be more dangerous alone.“

"Okay!” Frances said. “We’ll get back to you later when we find the others, if the battery doesn’t run out.”

“Got it,” Theo replied, before the connection went dead. 

“What’s going on?” Alexander asked, coming up behind the two teenagers. 

Theo startled and whirled around. “Mr. Hamilton! Uh, well, you see…”

“Philip and the others went to find Nathaniel,” Richard broke in. “He was missing, sir.”

Alexander nodded slowly. “I see. Do you know where they are or when they are coming back? I need to tell him that he needs to get his own dinner tonight because I’ll be working late.”

“We’ll tell him that, sir,” Theo recovered from the initial shock and gave the creative writing teacher a bright smile. 

“Good.” Alexander paused a moment before leaving. 

Theo let out a sigh. “That was close. Thanks for the save.”

“No problem. Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go call my mom to tell her I’ll be late.”

“Yeah, go ahead. That’s fine.”

Theo turned back to the computer screen and studied the map. Nathaniel’s phone signal had reappeared on the map. Eacker’s phone was off the map entirely, though Van Ness’ was flickering faintly. She assumed that however brightly the signal was showed how far underground they were, but she didn’t know if Nathaniel was underground at all. 

All she could do was wait.

——

Van Ness couldn’t see. When he turned off his phone, both he and Frances were plunged into darkness.

“Uh, Van Ness?” Frances’ voice came through.

“What?” Van Ness turned in the direction of her voice. 

“Can you see?”

Van Ness blinked, although he couldn’t tell the difference when his eyes were closed or open. "No?“

“Oh, right.” Frances hesitated for a moment before saying. "Try these, then. My glasses have night vision.“

Van Ness managed to fumble his way to her side before she slipped a pair of thin glasses into his hand. He put them on and found Frances staring at him. "Do they work?”

He decided not to ask why she carried extra pairs of night vision sunglasses with her, lest she punch them off his face. He wasn’t exactly on best terms with any of Philip’s friends, seeing as he had punched Philip a few weeks ago, but he learned the hard way that if you wanted friends, you actually had to work to keep them.

“Hello?”

The junior was shaken from his thoughts when Frances waved a hand in front of his face. "Do they work or not?“

“Yeah, yeah. They work,” Van Ness answered. 

And he wasn’t being sarcastic for once; it seemed Theo wasn’t the only one who could pass for a genius

”Cool.” Frances turned to point down the direction they came. "Let’s try this way first.“

Van Ness didn’t reply and instead started walking. He knew from past experience that people didn’t like disobedience. It made them irritable.

They walked for maybe twenty minutes in what Van Ness assumed were tunnels. There was no sign of Eacker, Philip, Georges, or least of all, Nathaniel anywhere. Frances had started muttering under her breath and the junior took it as a warning to keep at least five feet away from her.

Philip was sitting on a large rock, staring blankly at them. Frances, being Frances, snuck up behind him and hugged him rather violently. The sophomore startled. 

"Frances?"

Frances responded by laughing and shoving a pair of night vision goggles into his hands. Philip slipped them on and glared it his friend good-naturely. "Don’t scare me like that!”

“You see your boyfriend yet?” Frances teased.

Philip just snorted. "I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face; of course I wouldn’t be able to see him.“

"Just checking,” Frances replied. "What’s the plan?“

Philip looked at her in surprise. "What plan? Why do you just assume I have one?”

“Because you made that successful plan to get your dad with your English teacher,” Frances replied. 

“But this is different!” Philip protested. "This is some kind of life-or-death situation. We could die down here! I can’t handle that kind of stuff!“

“Then try,” Frances suggested. "Because my shitty idea was to find everyone and somehow fly back to the surface.“

“Finding everyone sounds like a good plan, especially since we need Georges and Eacker back. Not to mention Nathaniel because he’s the reason why we’re down here in the first place.”

Frances sighed. "Yeah. You know, if everything turns out to be okay, I’m seriously going to slap him for making us find him like this.“

They were interrupted by a loud rumble. Chunks of rocks started falling from the ceiling; one nearly hit Van Ness in the head, but the junior managed to leap out of the way just in time.

"It’s caving in!” Philip yelped, scrambling to his feet. "We gotta find the others!“  
He grabbed Frances and dove down one of the tunnels, Van Ness struggling to keep up as the ceiling fell in behind them.


End file.
